Coming Home to Ottercombe Bay: The laugh out loud romantic comedy of the year. Bella OsborneЧитать онлайн книгу.
next morning Daisy was woken by piercing yaps outside her door and she had to quell the desire to shout at the dog to shut up. She checked the clock, it was six thirty. Bug’s demands to be let out in the garden were getting earlier and earlier. He definitely had the upper hand, or paw, because the thought of clearing up his wee was worse than dragging herself out of bed. She eased herself from under the covers and stepped over yesterday’s clothes.
She quickly gathered herself up, flung open her bedroom door and marched into the hallway where she met Aunt Coral.
‘Good morning, love. Did you sleep well?’ Aunt Coral’s kindly question caught Daisy unawares.
‘No, Bug keeps barking.’ She was tired and grumpy – not a good combination.
‘Oh, he doesn’t usually. I hope he’s all right,’ said Aunt Coral, inching her way towards the kitchen.
Why can nobody else see his villainous plan? thought Daisy. He is an evil dictator. Perhaps he’s the reincarnation of Mussolini, she thought, or an even better fit might be Vlad the Impaler. Perhaps Min could get a message from him she wondered.
‘You go back to bed. I’ll put the kettle on,’ said Aunt Coral, her expression jolly. Daisy’s shoulders sloped forward, she’d never get back to sleep now. Thanks to Bug her brain was well and truly awake.
‘No, it’s okay. You rest your ankle I’ll get us some breakfast.’
‘Perhaps before that you could give Bugsy a walk? I think he didn’t go far enough last night. That’s probably the problem.’
Daisy gritted her teeth and headed for the kitchen muttering about Vlad the Impaler.
A couple of hours later Daisy was chewing her toast in silence while she and Bug had a staring competition, which annoyingly he won paws down. A rap of knuckles on the front door had both Daisy and Bug heading in that direction.
When she entered the porch she could see it was Jason and Max. What did they want?
‘Is this a bad time?’ asked Jason. He held the old railway box aloft. ‘I have some good news about the memorabilia.’ He gave a toothy smile.
Daisy tried to look welcoming. ‘Thanks, Jason, you’d better come in.’ Max averted his gaze and followed Jason in. You buy one, you get one free, she thought.
Aunt Coral met them in the hallway. ‘Good morning, boys.’
‘Good morning, Coral. Lovely to see you up and about. How’s the ankle?’ asked Jason. Everyone followed him into the living room. Max stepped back to let Daisy go in front and she acknowledged his gesture. She was still mad at him for their altercation in the pub and the snide comments at the fête.
Jason put the box on the table and unpacked the items. ‘The documentation isn’t worth anything but a serious GWR collector might give you a few pounds for it.’
‘GWR?’ asked Daisy.
‘Great Western Railways. They ran the branch line that ran from Exeter to here. Some people specialise in certain railway companies,’ said Jason. He continued unpacking. ‘The brush isn’t in great condition but should still fetch a few pounds. These pamphlets are quite interesting.’ He held up three yellowing booklets. ‘These are probably worth about ten pounds each.’
‘Ooh, that’s fabulous, Jason.’ Aunt Coral was leaning forward with interest, whereas Daisy was already quite bored. The effort of selling them was outweighing the return. Max looked similarly uninterested.
‘These photographs were in an envelope and they’re well preserved. Probably local interest only but worth five to ten pounds each. The real star of the show, however, is this.’ He held up the cast iron ‘Beware of the trains’ sign and everyone waited. He was building up his part and even Daisy was a little intrigued. ‘We could be looking at as much as eighty to a hundred pounds for this.’
‘Great,’ said Daisy with a yawn and she went to get the rest of her toast. She paused in the hallway as she heard the conversation start up in the living room after she’d left.
‘Is Daisy okay? Only Tamsyn said she saw her crying at the fête,’ said Jason.
‘Oh, poor love. She tries to put a brave face on it but it must be hard,’ said Aunt Coral.
‘Are we talking about her mother topping herself?’ asked Max.
‘Cause of death was drowning,’ said Jason.
‘She could have drowned herself,’ said Max.
‘It was unclear if abrasions on Sandy’s forehead were caused before or after she died.’ Jason had a look of Hercule Poirot about him.
‘Nobody knows exactly what happened. They just found her washed up on the beach one morning,’ said Aunt Coral with a shudder.
‘Sorry, that was just what I heard,’ said Max, his tone conciliatory.
‘Poor Daisy,’ said Jason. ‘It must be hard being back here with all the memories. It is a proper mystery, perhaps …’ Daisy strolled into the room and Jason stopped speaking. He cleared his throat. ‘Sorry, Daisy.’
‘Is this what it’s going to be like? A year of everyone whispering behind my back. All the speculation dredged up again. Because there are no answers, you know?’ She clutched her locket as she spoke.
‘We just care about you, that’s all,’ said Aunt Coral.
Daisy shook her head. ‘I don’t need you to—’
Max stood up. ‘People around here try and look after each other, you’ll have to get used to it if you’re sticking around.’
‘I don’t know if I’m staying but either way I can look after myself.’ Daisy was trying hard not to shout.
‘You are so selfish and if you don’t appreciate that people will want to help, maybe you should leave.’ Max’s voice rose to match hers.
‘If staying means everyone meddling in my life, then perhaps I should.’
‘If you consider it meddling then, yeah, go!’ shouted Max.
‘Fine!’ Daisy stormed out of the room.
‘Now, Max. That was uncalled for,’ said Aunt Coral, swinging her legs off the cushion and standing up.
Max pushed his hair off his face. ‘I’m sorry, Coral. I didn’t mean to upset you—’
‘But evidently you did mean to upset Daisy,’ she scolded, hobbling out of the room.
Jason carefully put the plaque back in the box and looked at Max. ‘I guess none of us handled that well.’
Max patted him on the back. ‘It’s okay mate. Come on, let’s get going if you’re still giving me a lift to work.’
‘Daisy, please don’t overreact,’ came Coral’s voice. Max and Jason were in the hall when the thundering footsteps on the stairs announced Daisy’s arrival. She was clutching an orange wash bag and wrestling with an overstuffed backpack.
‘I’m sorry Aunt Coral, but Max is right. I don’t belong in Ottercombe Bay and no amount of money is worth staying for.’ She shot a glare at Max whilst she continued to struggle with the rucksack.
Daisy finally got the bag done up and pushed past the men, gaining some satisfaction from shunting Max to one side. She gave the front door a shove and strode outside.
‘You know I really think we should intervene,’ said Jason, watching Daisy over his shoulder as she put on her motorcycle helmet. Jason and Max walked to the police car.
‘She was never going to stay,’ said Max. He shook his head and got in the passenger seat. Aunt Coral was standing in the doorway with a yapping Bugsy under her arm. Both vehicles started at the same time but Daisy got away first. She blew a kiss to Aunt